The Deepwater Horizon disaster exposed pervasive safety problems in offshore oil drilling and an industry that fought regulation to save money. That's the conclusion of the Presidential Commission investigating the Gulf oil spill. It's full report is out and it details what it calls a culture of complacency, how risky decisions were made until they climaxed in a deadly explosion and a massive oil spill.

The Commission says it might happen again unless both the oil industry and the government overhaul safety top to bottom. The panel wants the entire oil and gas industry to build a new safety culture, including an independent safety overseer like the one the nuclear industry created after Three Mile Island, an independent and expert government agency to regulate drilling with beefed up funding, and the Commission says both laws and technology have to catch up with the very real risks of deep undersea drilling.

Chief correspondent Tyler Suiters sat down with the co-chairman of the Commission, former Florida senator Bob Graham to talk about the findings and the fallout from the report.

Tyler Suiters: The report cites systematic failure within the offshore drilling industry, the community, as one of the causes of this accident. Is it possible that this is just an isolated case, this isn't systemic?

Bob Graham: When we started our inquiry, that was a question. Was this just an example of a road company and frankly, BP had had a reputation within the industry of having one of the lower standards of safety. They had the big blowout in Texas, they had the oil leak in Alaska, so they were known to be a marginally safe company.

The easy answer would have been, well, it's just BP being BP. We found however that it was more than just BP. First, it was more than BP because there were other companies -- companies that are some of the largest and most global such as Halliburton and Transocean that also made serious mistakes contributing to this disaster.

Also, it was more than just BP in that other companies in the industry knew about BP's vulnerability and had no mechanism to deal with it.

Tyler Suiters: The American Petroleum Institute, the lobbying arm for the oil industry would take issue with much of what you're saying. And you also in the report single out the API as it's known many times for its role leading up to the Deepwater Horizon disaster. What did the API do or not do that may have affected the outcome here?

Bob Graham: Well, we'd look forward to working with the API and with the industry at large because we recognize that if we're going to get a sustained commitment to these standards of safety, both those that were asked in the industry to undertake similar to what the nuclear power and chemical industries have already done, or get Congress to adopt the changes in law that will increase the ability of the federal government to effectively serve as a landlord providing stewardship over the property that it owns for the people of America or as a regulator to protect the safety of the people who are working in this industry, as well as those who are affected by its activities we know it's going to take the industry's positive involvement.

Tyler Suiters: Senator, assuming a lock in Congress with Republicans leading the House, Democrats leading the Senate, where does the implementation for your recommendations come from? Does it come from the White House? What can President Obama do to put these in place?

Bob Graham: Well, a substantial amount of our recommendations can be accomplished by executive action. For instance, we recommend some significant reorganization and upgrading of the training and compensation of people who are responsible for the regulation. It will take some Congressional action in terms of the appropriations to accomplish that, but the actual structural changes can largely be made by the President or more likely by the Secretary of the Department of Interior. But a lot of our recommendations are going to require Congressional action. As an example, we recommend that 80% of whatever fines may be collected as a result to this be used for restoration of the Gulf. We think that the Gulf has been battered not only by this incident but by a long period of supporting the oil and gas industry and that it's only appropriate that the fines that are paid as a result of unacceptable behavior be largely used to restore that part of America which has paid the price for oil and gas development in the Gulf.

Susan McGinnis: The Commission's report specifically fingers the American Petroleum Institute for fighting stronger offshore drilling rules for decades, rules the Commission says might have prevented the Deepwater Horizon disaster. API is mentioned several times in the report, including in this reference. “Because they would make oil and gas industry operations potentially more costly, API regularly resists agency rulemakings that government regulators believe would make those operations safer.”

API President Jack Gerard responds.

Jack Gerard: We don't think it's based in fact. The one particular rulemaking they were talking about, they're just inaccurate and their conclusions wrong. We were working closely with the department. They were talking about one of our safety standards. They've since adopted that safety standard.

Susan McGinnis: Let me get your reaction to one comment about the government reliance on industry standards. Because the interior department has relied on API in developing its own regulatory safety standards, API's shortfalls have undermined the entire federal regulatory system. Could API's support of regulations be stronger?

Jack Gerard: They discount or fail to observe the 65 years of history we've had in the Gulf, drilling over 42,000 wells for the energy the country needs. From that, they have drawn broad conclusions about the industry. They're not based in fact and unfortunately, it does a disservice to the 9.2 million hardworking men and women in the industry.

American Petroleum Institute has been developing standards for the industry since 1924. They're accredited by outside third parties. They're audited by outside third parties and they have created a standard for the industry to elevate performance and safety across the entire sector.

Susan McGinnis: Those standards found to be faulty by this Commission.

Jack Gerard: Well, those standards are the very ones that the Commission recommends be adopted for safety programs moving forward. The first time anything of this magnitude has ever happened was this particular incident. So we need to put that in context and not cast unfounded aspersions on the broader industry because of this one incident.

Susan McGinnis: Are they casting unfounded aspersions on the industry?

Jack Gerard: Absolutely. This Commission's report has reached conclusion suggesting there's a culture of complacency across the industry. That's -- [Voice Overlap]

Susan McGinnis: The three companies in this accident, they talked to other companies across the industry.

Jack Gerard: And they also say publicly that many other companies across the industry have excellent programs that they have no recommendations that they should change. So at the same time, it's a conflicting report. Out of one side of their mouth, they draw these wild conclusions across the entire industry. At the same time, they commend us for a job well done and adopt the very standards that we've created to improve safety performance.

Susan McGinnis: When do you think we can resume drilling if you'll agree safety needs to be improved?

Jack Gerard: The moratorium in the Gulf of Mexico was entirely unnecessary. We are now down 13% in the Gulf of Mexico in terms of the amount of oil that's being produced. We're seeing a rise in the price of gasoline across the country. We need to also get focused on supply in this country, make sure we're bringing adequate supply to the marketplace so it doesn't adversely impact consumers. At the same time, we're improving our safety to develop those valuable resources.

Susan McGinnis: Do any safety moves need to be done before more permits are issued for deepwater?

Jack Gerard: The oil and gas industry has already moved on its own to improve safety. We worked with the regulators. They've imposed a number of new standards on us. We're happy to meet those. We need clarity as to exactly what they expect from us. But yes, we should resume deepwater oil and gas production as soon as possible.

Susan McGinnis: As soon as the industry meets these new standards?

Jack Gerard: As soon as the regulators allow us back out there to produce the oil and gas the country needs.

Susan McGinnis: Well, next up, the co-chairs of the Commission are scheduled to appear on Capital Hill for hearings January 26th with the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and then the House Natural Resources Committee.